Many individuals, like yourself, are interested in learning how to back up an iPhone to an external disc. Why? When you back up your iPhone, you’re protecting yourself in case you lose it or it gets damaged. The iCloud backup service from Apple is great. Learning how to backup an iPhone to an external hard drive is useful for individuals who do not find this appealing or who have run out of iCloud storage space.
This task will necessitate the use of an external hard disc with appropriate storage space. As a result, before you start backing up your iPhone data, consider investing in one of the best external hard drive models.
The Very First Step: How to Find Your Current Backup on MacOS?
Before you can transfer your iPhone backup to an external hard drive, you need to know where it is stored on your Mac. It’s not difficult to locate it, and here’s how to go about it:
1.Select Finder from the Mac’s Dock.
2.Find and pick your iPhone under “Locations.”
3.From the drop-down menu, choose “Manage Backups.”.
4.Click the backup name you desire while holding down the control key.
5.From the drop-down option, choose “Show in Finder.”
You were able to locate the backup without difficulty.
How Can You Backup an iPhone to an External Drive on Windows?
Several third-party software make it simple to backup your iPhone and transfer backups to an external hard drive. However, you can use iTunes to back up your phone directly to your USB hard drive using a little-known Windows function. This is how you do it:
- If iTunes is open on your computer, it should be shut down..
- Connect your iPhone’s external USB hard drive to the computer where you want to save and backup videos. Allow Windows to recognise and set up the device for a few seconds.. Close the drive if you receive an AutoPlay prompt or Windows asks you what you want to do with it.
- To open File Explorer, press Windows + E. Make a note of the drive letter that Windows has assigned to the external hard disc by clicking “Computer.”
- Connect the iPhone’s data sync cable to the PC’s second USB port. Close iTunes if it appears on your PC.
- To launch the Run dialogue box, press Windows key + R. To open it, type “cmd” into the Run box and press the “Enter” key. Select the “Yes” button if a User Account Control popup appears after clicking Enter. On the screen, a Command Prompt window appears.
- To run the command, type it at the command prompt and hit the “Enter” key:
Change the “iPhone Backup” variable’s value to the name of the folder on your external hard drive where you want to save the backup. Change the value of the “your Windows user name” variable to the authentic username of your Windows account. Change the letter “f” in “f:iPhoneBackup” to the drive letter for the external storage device supplied by Windows.
- Once iTunes is started on your computer, wait a few seconds for the iPhone to be identified.From the Devices menu, choose iPhone..
- From the menu bar, choose “File.”. Make sure “Devices” is selected before selecting “Back Up.” Check the “This computer” box on the “Summary” tab, then click “Back Up Now.” Allow iTunes to complete a standard iPhone backup in a few seconds.
- If you haven’t used File Explorer in a while, press “Windows-E.” Double-click the drive letter of the external hard disc after hitting “Computer.” To see the iTunes backup file, go to the folder where it was stored on your hard drive.
How Can You Backup Your iPhone to an External Hard Drive on a Mac?
- Whether using macOS Mojave or prior operating systems that used iTunes for iPhone backups, the process of backing up an iPhone to an external hard drive is largely the same for Mac users. If you’re running macOS Catalina on a Mac, the approach is slightly different because you’ll be using the Finder instead. Here’s how it works:
- Connect your iPhone and start iTunes if you’re running macOS Mojave or a previous version of the operating system. Select the iPhone device symbol in the upper left-hand corner.If your Mac is running macOS, open the Finder from the programme dock at the bottom of your screen.
- Under the “manually backup and restore” section of your device information menu, select “back up immediately.” Catalina users will find the “back up quickly” option under the “backups” section.
- This process will take some time, especially if this is the first time you’ve backed up your device. After it’s finished, you may transfer your data to an external drive.
- You may back up your iPhone files in iTunes or Finder to a specified place. The location is “/Library/Application Support/MobileSync,” which the Finder will not show. In the search box at the top right of your Mac screen, type the location of your backup folder. To make a copy, go for the most recent backup folder and right-click it.
- In the Finder’s left-hand menu, paste your backup folder into the “locations” menu item on your external disc.
You may use iTunes or Finder to back up your iPhone files to a specified folder. “/Look for it under “Library/Application Support/MobileSync.”. You’ll have to do this every time you backup your iPhone to your Mac manually, just as you would with Windows.
How can I tell whether my backup was successful?
You may back up your iPhone files to a specific location using iTunes or Finder. Make sure that iTunes is backing up from the new location after backing up your iPhone to a portable hard drive by running the following test.
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to your PC through a USB cable.
- To locate your device, open iTunes or use the Finder.
- Choose “Back Up Now” from the drop-down menu.
- Go to the iOS backup folder on the external disc and access it once the backup is complete.
It’s crucial to double-check if the last backup was performed at the same time as the present action.
You must first check that the test is running smoothly before you can delete your previous backups.
How Can You Make Your Backup Location Change Even More Convenient?
Having a backup on an external hard drive may cause complications if you don’t keep it plugged in all of the time. This is how to back up your iPhone manually if you don’t want it to back up automatically.
- From the menu bar, choose Finder. Select Finder from the menu bar.
- Locate and click on your iPhone under Locations.
- Uncheck the item to stop automatic synchronization when this iPhone is connected.
- Tick and highlight “MacOS with an iPhone open” and “auto sync when this iPhone is connected” in the “MacOS with an iPhone open” box.
Don’t forget to back up your data manually on a regular basis!
Wrapping Up
As an alternative, you might back up your iPhone to various cloud storage services. A plan may, however, require you to pay a price. This is frequently done through a monthly subscription. Furthermore, you will not be able to do so directly from your iPhone or Mac. To back up your iPhone to an external hard drive, you’ll still need to follow the steps indicated above. Connecting your hard drive to a computer is all it takes to upload files and images to a cloud service of your choice.
